When ration cards are an economic best option

I guess long time readers of this blog may blanch at the title, but bear with me a tad longer.

The 2013 mayoral election results (5): creating codependency on the state yields gains

We are left to wonder how come a country that is so badly ruled, with so much insecurity, with soon a triple digit inflation,  with double digit scarcity index, can still manage to give around 50% of its votes to the people that are spreading misery around.  True, there is an absolute obscene electoral fraud that explains why they actually reach 50%, but the fraud would not work if the regime were not guaranteed, say, at least a 40% of the votes. And 40% of the votes in current conditions is already too much for this blogger to understand. There have been this year countries with less problems than ours that went rioting in the streets (Thailand, Ukraine, Brazil...). And yet Venezuela sees many protests but only from people wanting to solve their own issues, not caring anything about the collective issues.  For all our problems there has not being anything significant in 2013 as a large scale protest across the country. Not that it will not come, even the Soviet Union eventually fell. But that is another story.

Et tu, Guardian? Rory Carroll tells all!

This Sunday morning is full of surprises. Now I come across the latest opus of Rory Carroll at the Guardian. It is a long review of Chavez tenure and a meditation on whether Chavez lost his political touch, whether he can come back to his past electoral glories. We can guess that Rory is skeptical.

He has a rather very accurate view on how things unfolded in Venezuela under Chavez, a praiseworthy thing considering that the Guardian represents a certain democratic left that supported and forgave Chavez for only too long. That probably explains some minor errors and can account for this major one when he parrots the "massive demonstrations" that supposedly returned Chavez to office in 2002. Demonstrations existed but were not massive, and even dismal when compared to the truly massive one that took place against Chavez two days earlier. I suppose he is of the school of "the revolution shall not been televised", those that are not aware of the extensive rebuttal of that propaganda video. Nevertheless Rory Carroll has been long enough in Venezuela and now he does not buy it, so we can let him indulge in some revolutionary romanticism which after the December referendum failure is now just that, romanticism.

One interesting aspect of his article is that he finally talks about his feelings and thoughts that famous day when on a Santa Fe beach Chavez used him to attack the West. I had defended him then, embarrassed that "mi presidente" would be so rude and vulgar with Rory Carroll. Apparently Rory was less upset than I was for him (or at least he is protecting any meager access he still has to chavismo). He dryly, very English humor like, writes:

In the absence of US marines storming the beach, a reporter for a British newspaper could fill in as the villain. Nothing personal.

Precious.

A must read article.

-The end-

The US versus Chavez: was it worth?

It has been almost ten years of continuous anti US rhetoric from Chavez. And in a few weeks San Felipe will be inaugurating its new Burger King, right across the McDonald that has been running for about 5 years. Thus this corner of deep Venezuela will look a little bit more like any US anonymous suburbia.

I took this picture just as a family was getting out of a "buseta", a rickety old truck converted in some form of bus, a picture which I took accidentally before the above shot (click pics to enlarge). As you will see there is absolutely nothing glamorous about the mode of transport that this family took to go to McDonald. They are what US/European clichés love to call the "downtrodden dark skinned masses whose better fate has been brought courtesy of chavismo". And yet? where are they going to have their Saturday fun meal? At McDonald.

That is right, it is true, they have more money than before and can afford more stuff. Including the ideological symbol of the hated empire: McDonald (and surely Burger King in a future week end outing). I wonder if thsi family belongs to some "mision", if they are public workers, if they attended electoral rally to support chavismo. Maybe they did, maybe they did not, but they end up at McDonald anyway.

Because make no mistake, the odds that their new acquired relative wealth are coming from some private sector activity is very low. The industrial park of San Felipe has still an abandoned look, half the land is still unbuilt or abandoned with some ruins in the middle. Since 1999 there has been only three new "business": a new experimental university (UNEY), a central MERCAL distribution area and the latest one, a cooking gas bottling facility from PDVSA. In the same period at least 6 private business have closed down. Elsewhere in the area the only thing that has grown is the commercial district. But you would be very hard pressed to find new and shinny production facility in the area...

Thus this picture is actually two symbols. First, the failure of chavismo to distract folks from consuming US products and US lifestyle, no matter what is their social background (pictures of chavistas visiting the US and shopping abound all through the Internet). The US invasion is already here, it fills up malls showrooms and the bellies of those who visit. And second the economic failure in spite of recent high growth rates. We import all, even our food, export less and less, and things get worse as the price of oil keeps increasing.

Meanwhile the little joint I used to patronize in my earlier days at San Felipe, Cachapas Coa, is near dead. It used to have some of the best cachapas in Venezuela (as read in the guides of Valentina Quintero). The owners are (were?) chavistas and they tried to keep cost down, to remain close to the people. Service suffered, the already rustic "decoration" could not keep up, people showed less and less and the quality of cachapas started to fall. Now, I rarely go and when I go for lunch I am one of the very few customers even though the cachapas are almost as good as they were before (when you go at jojoto season, that is). But McDonald always as a crow for lunch, with a simple Mac at four times a delicious, natural, Venezuelan Cachapa...

Qu'elle était belle ma revolution!


-The end-

Squatting in Venezuela: worse than ever

Chavez celebrated his 9th year in office earlier in February. Grieving comes to a lot more folks around this fateful day. I was wondering what kind of comment I could write up to commemorate (?) such a date. But how do you reminisce about the date when Venezuela started its final road on becoming a broken country, a failed state if it were not for the thin glue that is still coming courtesy of high oil prices?


And then a couple of weeks ago I got an idea: discuss the squatting epidemic in Venezuela, 9, NINE years after Chavez reached office. Before getting into the why of the squatting pandemic, to enlighten the reader about this Venezuelan drama I will report on the two recent instances in San Felipe, which I managed to photograph without upsetting the natives who understandably are not too happy when someone comes to take a picture of their precarious living conditions. Note: the pictures were taken on two different days; click on them to enlarge for some of the worthy details.

The general set up

First, squatting rarely takes place away from central urban areas, or at the end of some dirt road. It is always on some worthy land, next to some major highway or some land suitable for housing projects. I will thus start first with a picture of San Felipe from Goggle Earth where I point out the two "invasiones" that I will describe today, invasion 1 offering the picture that introduces this post, with drying laundry included.


It is thus relatively valuable land, as close as possible from already established real estate, even if that real estate is for popular neighborhoods, as is the case for invasion 1. Invasion 2 is closer to a a middle class set up.

In the end an "invasión" is simply a blackmail to force the owner to shell off money to get back the land. If the owner does not have the money it is then expected that the municipal council will decide that it goes against the general interests of the community to let slums proliferate randomly. Again, blackmail. It has been reported often that some people have made a career of this: they invade an area, stick around for enough time and when some "compensation" will come they transfer their "rights" to someone else and go elsewhere to start the process anew. If it is a tragedy for some it is also a business for many.

Because this is the real problem that makes the situation so intractable: there is a genuine, dramatic, housing shortfall that has gotten much worse under Chavez. Mix with it a few unscrupulous low life adventurers and you get for a heady mix of corruption, violence, blackmail and human misery, while the state suffers from an increasing paralysis. It is important to note that the average housing construction under Chavez is below those of any recent democratic president.

The time table of construction

It always starts like that, a group of people set a few picket fences, a few plastic covers on top of 4 sticks. Even if it looks like it, it is not that random. This picture is on a portion of invasion 1, its current expansion toward the North. Now that the southern part is relatively settled, newcomers keep arriving and boldly creep toward the main avenue North. Note: this is the third try I remember on this very same piece of land which might be from a different owner probably as the one that finally took root, as we will see below. That is about the only explanation on why of two adjacent pieces of land one succeeded at first try and the other is still finding its ways.


Over a few weeks the settlement starts taking form. The settlement can be as primitive as log cabins (on the right side) to a mishmash of old zinc sheets, street signs, cardboard (on the left) to higher investment in new to semi new zinc sheets (in the middle). They are always one room at first although very soon a second room is added. Since it is Yaracuy and rains are heavy, they are careful from the start to build a slope on the roof. The one on the left is particularly interesting even though it is the one with the cheapest "recycled material": is is the one with the best engineering of the scene, with even a small open air area on the very left for people to spend the afternoon.

This next picture is a little bit further to the South and here you can see another example of log cabin on the left and a truly rag tag assembly of whatever from the right. Clearly, the background and means of these "settlers" can be quite different. Also note the log cabin one: think about where does that timber come from? Which land has been deforested somewhere? In case you do not know, in theory you need a permit in Venezuela to fall any tree, even in your backyard. If at my work place or a the family farm we were to cut down enough trees to build up a log cabin for the kids to play, the Nazional Guard would be immediately on us for a fine, or more likely for some baksheesh. These people, I am pretty sure, did not get bothered by the Nazional Guard, whereas the ex owner of these trees might be questioned about it about where his trees went..... Ecology under the bolivarian fraud is an empty concept.


The life style

Now, let's move on to the southern part of invasion 1. As you can see from this first picture it is more settled, more developed. People now are actually living in it whereas in the pictures above usually a single guardian stays the 24 hours in the "home". the reason is that since some authority or some thug group might come in the middle of the night and bring all down, the "claim" could be lost to either another "invasor" group, or to public authorities and even in some cases the owner. Yes, "invasiones" are not necessary an easy business, and can be fraught with risks.

But there comes a time where the owner for some reason cannot get the authorities support (usually because he cannot afford the lawyers and the right bribes) and the settlement can start to prosper, so to speak. In this picture below you can see a Saturday afternoon family scene where, stroller and all, the family retreats to their home. Shacks look bigger behind the grass, more densely settled with pickets to bring in electricity. Many, if not most, will by this stage have a TV and a refrigerator. The highway is a double road and in front you can see the well worn pass where the grass is topping to grow. There is now significant human traffic, and probably either a bus stop or some "bodega" not too far which justifies that folks go always through this 'pass'.


Because it should be clear that there is no service, no running water, no drains, no electricity. Water can soon be bought in by trucks (usually offered by the municipal social programs though purchasing them is faster and they can pull together resoruces) and all the settlers will soon acquire some large enough containers for water, stored INSIDE the shack because they are a prized possession and the envy of the neighbors. There is enough water so that folks can even do their laundry as the opening picture showed you clearly.

Sewers you can forget for a while and I confess that I am not tempted to go inside and inquire. I suspect that they must dig latrines or walk to the wooded area in the back though this is snake country. Maybe they use the old fashioned basin system? Maybe they put it in plastic bags? 'Showers' might not be too much of a problem. Washing with a few cups of waters does not wet too much the soil, the water will not be too dirty and this being the tropics within hours all will be dry anyway. In Caracas it is less of a problem since the big slopes allowed for drainage in the middle of the 'street' to the 'quebrada' (wadi). But here in flat land I am a little bit concerned for the health of the folks.

Fortunately electricity is an easy thing to fix: steal it from the aerial lines across the highway. In this picture you can see how they place high bamboos or tree pickets to carry electricity inside the settlement. Guess who pays for that? Yours truly since the electricity charges are all split under registered customers who must shore up the burden of all the stolen electricity of the country. The government rarely cuts off these people. If hey did within hours they would restore the cables anyway. The rear pages of the newspapers carry regularly reports of guys dead from electrocution.

Unfortunately garbage is another matter. The municipality cannot charge them for garbage disposal and thus it is collected only on occasion, when it becomes a traffic hazard. The picture below speaks for itself.

Invasión 2

The second area, invasion 2 in the map above, is a very recent one. It is placed right next to a new development project, of course bringing down the value of whatever folks are trying to build there. It is also next to a potentially dangerous "quebrada" who could overflow someday (hence the wooden nature of the area, clearly seen on the satellite image, since humidity is not too far below ground. And to complete the whole picture it is next to San Felipe historical archaeological park, ruining the tourist attraction. This area should remain wooded and become eventually a new park of sorts. Now it is ruined, an ecological crime and will cost the municipality a lot to recover, if it can ever come around to do it. And of course, if the stream overflows and destroys a few "homes" and takes a few lives, well, tax payers will have to foot the bill for something that started illegally.



The picture above repeats what was described above, even though it is hidden from view by the trees and because it is below highway level.

And the picture below shows how the folks spend their Sunday afternoon, guarding their take over. You will notice that we are at the early stage, no real inhabitation yet, one of the shacks has its 'walls' made of black trash bags (on the right side).

Is it cold in Boston in February?

Conclusion: what Joe Kennedy does not tell you

The first thing that the reader must be aware of is that these pathetic scenes of human misery are everywhere in Venezuela. In San Felipe, with not even 200 000 folks, you can count at least a half dozen new squatting events in the last three years. In fact, it has mushroomed since the state house was taken by chavismo three years ago. In all fairness Gimenez has built a lot of housing, but then again he got the means that were always denied to Lapi. Thus he probably ended up attracting people from far away in their desperate hope to find a home.

"Invasiones" also happened heavily in Carabobo after the Salas were evicted three years ago. The Southern approach to Valencia is dotted with huge squatting settlements for hundreds and hundreds of plots. I even allow myself to suspect that such squats are a deliberate maneuver from the new chavista administration to change the electoral makeshift of some areas.

Thus when you drive from San Felipe to Caracas you could easily count a couple of dozen of squats in 3 hours drive. Impressive by any standard.

Since I am aware that it is a reflection of human misery, of an incompetent state unable to promote economic policies that would allow these people a better way to solve their housing problems, I am not mad at them at all. Even though I know that my tax money will be used some day to try to solve somewhat this huge problem, I feel pity for these people and wish I could help them. It remains that the best thing that could happen to them is for Chavez to go and for a new economical system to come up, one that creates real jobs with real wages and not a "Mision" dependency of failing social programs that allows people to survive in such settlements, making them support the local chavista apparatchiks least they lose sustenance and any meager hope they might have to hold to their land claim.

No, my anger is well directed at Chavez and the sycophants that leach from him. Because the pictures that you saw above were all taken this past month, NINE YEARS after Chavez came to power. What has he done with all the oil money he received and all the taxes the SENIAT has collected? How come that after NINE YEARS of rule we see MORE SQUATTING SETTLEMENTS than 9 years ago? Where do these people come from? What are they refugees from? Because this is what it looks like, that Venezuela is becoming a refugee center of sorts. Are we seeing a massive exodus of the rural population that is chased away from the extraordinary failure of Chavez agricultural policies?

But what irks me more is that with the oil money we give to Boston alone we could build a small and cheap house for all of these people, in better land that could be purchased at a discount price from any owner instead of staling it form them, and if we must keep the dirt roads we could at least provide every house with a single faucet of clean water and at least a central line of sewer. And heck, even a Barrio Adentro module could be tossed in. And I bet you that some money would still be left to build a sheltered bus stop and expand the nearest school from the settlement. And why not, even clothe, vaccinate, buy school books for the kids.

Meanwhile leaches like Joe Kennedy play politics with Venezuelan oil in Boston where none of the recipients of the oil aid would put up for a minute with the living conditions of the people you saw on these pictures.

Where is the Boston Globe sending a reporter to make a good study of these squatters in Venezuela and show Joe why he is such an asshole? Where are the Delahunt and other Chavez apologists? Where is the stupid Obama campaign worker with a Che poster in her nice Air Conditioned office with working toilets down the hallway?

These are the people that deserve all the contempt that I was feeling when I took all of these pictures.


-The end-

The Wall Street Journal does Yaracuy

I am not too sure what kind of cosmic conjunction has brought these two papers together but on the same day both the new York Times and the Wall Street Journal publish an extensive article on the land problems of Yaracuy, my humble home state now on the front page of the WSJ (it was not front page in the NYT...). Since it is subscriber only I am delighted to report that already 4 readers have sent me a copy of the WSJ article. Impressive. For those like me who cannot afford a WSJ subscription (now that I think of it the WSJ should give me a courtesy one considering all the free advertising that they got through this blog), I have put a copy here.

The first thing to be said is that the WSJ opus is much more direct and plainly condemnatory of Chavez policies than the NYT does. This by itself is not surprising, and contrary to what some might infer, it makes the lecture of the NYT even more necessary. Simon Romero deals more with the psychological impact of the issues, a tremendous impact, whereas Jose de Cordoba focuses more on the negative economical consequences (and future aggravated psy impact?). Thus it is truly something that we have these two reads on the same day (and even better if we consider the not very optimistic Forero piece on the Washington Post also published today about the communal councils, who supposedly will direct some of these land grabs as the WSJ so justly qualify the land invasions in Yaracuy). Now, let's comment on the WSJ piece (which comes with a great slide show).

First we get the hard hitting fact: from 10 000 tons a year of sugar cane the farm went down to zero. The lost crop has been replaced at best by some banana/plantain stuff. Sugar is missing on the markets but bananas can always be found, as well as plantains. The reader can already draw its first conclusion. A drastic one at that considering that banana is the easiest crop to grow in Venezuela low lands such as Yaracuy and as such is the one with the lowest financial return unless you can export it all. As a cash crop substitute, bananas are a bust!

The next thing is that Cordoba provides us with more hard data (it is the WSJ after all) and we can read the following:

Since coming to power, the Chavez government has handed over 8.8 million acres, an area bigger than Maryland, for use by the poor. While much of this was state-owned land that was either idle or leased to ranchers, some 4.5 million acres were "recovered" from private owners, Mr. Chavez said recently. In some cases, the government compensated them. In most others, like Mr. Lecuna's, it has simply turned a blind eye to land invasions.

At least now we do get the first numbers I have seen of state lands involved in redistribution schemes. I cannot vouch for that number and I suppose Mr. Cordoba is well informed, but I am tempted to believe him considering that Chavez has probably given state land away but prefers to highlight for political reasons the ones he takes away from private owners.

And right after that there is another line that pretty much closes the article even though we are barely half way through it:

But so far, the effect has been to undercut production of beef, sugar and other foods, as productive land is handed to city dwellers with no knowledge of farming. Established farmers and ranchers, fearing their land may be seized next, are cutting investment in their operations to a minimum.

Nothing that readers of this blog did not already know, by the way. Still I will add yet one more excerpt that illustrates quite well how Chavez is fooling less and less people.

Mr. Chavez blames the shortages on "speculation" by distributors and producers. Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua recently called a news conference to deny there's been any decline in food production during the eight years of Chavez rule. The central bank stopped publishing agricultural statistics in 2005. A private farm association called Fedeagro estimates Venezuela grew 8% less food last year than the year before, citing factors including the price controls, land seizures and the wave of kidnappings of farmers.

All of this yours truly can verify on his own. Cordoba is not making anything up: if things go that way and if by bad luck oil production, or prices, or both, were to fall down, we will starve. Or limit ourselves to bananas.

The rest of the article is more concerned with illustrative details, but it includes a more complete description of the previous land reforms which already had ended the absentee landlord system. The implication is simple: this is not about absentee landlords anymore, it is a naked land grab for political reasons mostly.

Mr. Cordoba also underlines that the mision to train this new peasants plucked out from the cities is named now Mision Che Guevara, named for the notorious assassin, economy destructor, and a sure sign of the radicalization of the process (confirming that chavismo is preparing to kill recalcitrant landowners if necessary?).

But perhaps the best moment of the article, the most telling one, is when Mr. Cordoba interviews the Branger Family of Hato Piñero and Paraima. This noted land grab, of lands fit only for some grazing and ecological tourism, was to give to peasants to plant whatever they wanted. And they have failed, as they were bound to do. I quote because it is worth it:

But the co-op members have seen their pastures dry up in the searing sun of the dry season. Some gave up. Others, in desperation, have turned to the Branger family for help.

How often has that happening Venezuela? Always, be it under AD, or under Copei or now under Chavez. That is what populism does best, to excite the masses, to give them a few free bees and then let them hang high and dry.

But the best was in fact for the end: a fabulous description of all the corruption associated with these land schemes and how oblivious of that Chavez is. He does not care about he results of his policies and of his agrarian ones probably even less. The only thing that matters for Chavez is to have a good show every week and if thousands of people rob the country during that time, he does not care. Pathetic, and great for the WSJ to report it so bluntly and even, let's not be afraid of words, scathingly.

Unfortunately the WSJ piece lacks one thing, a closer look at the hopes that Chavez repeated shows raise in some of the population. This perhaps is the biggest damage that the whole thing will create, a class of bitter, failed peasants that could end up in guerrilla, banditry or what not. But that is why the NYT article completes this one so well. Even a bleeding heart liberal must get the message that there must be a better way than the Chavez abuses of power who end up destroying everything, even those that he is supposedly trying to help. Sad, very sad.



-The end-

The New York Times does Yaracuy

I have to start by confessing that I do not know whether to be happy about the latest opus of Simon Romero of the New York times. One one side, he puts Yaracuy clearly on the map and writes a fairly reasonable article (accompanied with an excellent video though). But the article lacks some key elements that do not tell the whole story. Then again, Yaracuy, the mystery land of Maria Lionza, cannot be understood in a few days. I have been living here for soon a decade and some times I have the strange feeling that I still have no idea what is going on here, and this has little to do with Chavez. It is something in the air, and something that makes me love this state once so alien to me. So I will be game, recommend the article and just add a few elements that will help the regular reader of this blog to get a more complete picture of the agrarian problems of Yaracuy. Besides, for once that we have a gringo journalist that does real research on Venezuela, in the real hinterlands, with real violence, we must commend him!

The article

The article is overall OK. It could have been better if some facts had been checked a little bit more. For example it is written that "Before the land reform started in 2002, an estimated 5 percent of the population owned 80 percent of the country’s private land." This is not exact. The biggest landowner of Venezuela is the state and it has frequently been pointed out that many of the invasion schemes of Chavez could have been avoided if the state had given up some of the land it hoards. That is, in part the Chavez land grabs are also a personal vendetta of Chavez, with needless violence. It is often a political act more than a justice act as many producers would have accepted easily a fair compensation for at least all the work they put into the land.

This chavista propaganda manipulation is easily detected if one uses the excellent reference book of the "Fundacion Polar: Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela". On the chapter of the Reforma Agraria we can rad such things

- The Agrarian Reform Law was promulgated on March 5th, 1960. Thus it is clear that this law which was a fundamental one in the new democratic government and that Chavez IS NOT the first one who contemplated giving lands to peasants. In fact he does nto as they cannot hold any property right whereas the Reforma Agraria contemplated such figure.

- the statistics as of 1985, 25 years into the law, also reveal that a very significant land redistribution did take place in Venezuela. In the 1956 census there were 397 823 agricultural production units (from estates the size of a small country to the little "conuco") of which 24% where only legally owned. the law calculated that about 350 000 families were to benefit form the redistribution scheme (NOTE! then Venezuela population was barely 7.5 million folks so 350 000 families were a big deal!). In 1985 313 864 land grants had been made of which 84 997 benefited of full property rights.

- In 1985, the landless peasant congress claimed only about 100 000 landless peasants in Venezuela. Still a lot for sure, but it could not be denied that distribution had taken place.

Under Chavez we get lots of shows of him taking over big estates but statistics are hard to come. Romero does mention that there was a land redistribution scheme in 1960 but he seems to have fallen for the line fed by chavismo, that he himself alone has really done something for the landless peasants. (1)

There is also another detail that I think is important to point out. If Romero indeed describes the violence that comes from both sides, and particularly strong in Yaracuy (I can vouch how the countryside criminality even affects city security as the violent gangs forming into the country side do "branch out") he does not mention that some of the "chavista/squatter" victims are from internecine warfare. That is, the disorderly way into these land invasions are undertaken results in serious disputes among the squatters as to whom gets what spoil. Quite often death results. On the other hand Romero is absolutely right when he reports that in either case justice is not coming as the victims of land confrontations are just left for their relatives to cry over. Something that I am prepared to say is that I suspect it is a state terrorism policy to scare away the present owners but also to scare into submission the new "tenants".

Only more detail I would like to point out: the Fundo Bella Vista. This is THE Potemkine Village of pseudo land reform in Venezuela. The reason is that this Fundo was built to try to erase the images of the violent pictures of bloody confrontation that took place in the area two years ago (2). So as a good propaganda measure, and because any good propaganda machinery needs a showcase example to take tourists, the Fundo Bella Vista was constructed to the point that the video mentions it almost as having some US suburban characteristics. Now, I am not saying this with any bitterness: I wish ALL newly settled peasant and cooperative community were endowed with the same facilities as Bella Vista, but they are not, the huge majority does not get a quarter of what Bella Vista gets. Though Romero implies the ideological school that Bella Vista is becoming with the local leader shown with clothing rather unsuitable to go and dig in the fields (watch the video, you'll love it!). I wonder if he saw some Cubans while he was there, by the way.....

The video

I have little to say about the video. It gives really the two sides of the story. It is clear that the landowners where not the type of landowners that one find in the cliché imagery of pages of revolutionary sites. The ones interviewed clearly developed the lands that they bought rather empty, rather abandoned. The claims of the chavista activist organizer, Alonso Zapata, are rather hollow on this respect and in fact the video mentions that he has been accused by the same people he helps of cashing in along the way some juicy commission. Accused by his own folks, it bears repeating.

But the video also illustrates the hopes of the other side, as well as the betrayals. If the Urachice initiative of Fundo Bella Vista is a very nice example of what chavismo could do if it had some more consistency and dedication, the fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of cooperatives look more like the forsaken one also shown. Squatting takes place, some credits are given, maybe some supplies, and this is the last time peasants see public officials until election time. The same old story by the way from the AD agrarian redistribution of the 60ies....

And Gimenez, the governor, in his very best behavior, still looks like a sleaze bag no matter how hard the NYT camera tries to make him look respectable. I loved it! And he is basically the one behind the lack of sugar these days.

However I cannot end up this without patting myself in the back: some of the images shown in the video are actually some of the pictures that I have shown in the past in this blog, in particular the "welcoming" huge poster at the entry of San Felipe where Gimenez and Chavez appear together over a rural backdrop. Now, if the New York Times confirms my pictures then either I am Simon Romero or I do really write from Yaracuy :)

PS: since the New York times holds its articles for only a couple of weeks, I have lifted the article and put it here.

--- --- --- --- --- --- ---

1) Long ago I have written a long assay on these land schemes for those who want to know more about it.

2) The violence history of these take over of Fundo Bella vista is a clear case of political revenge as the former owner was a political leader of Yaracuy that organized the 2003 strike and dared run for governor in 2004 (which he totally failed at by the way). I have digged a couple of articles from El Universal for those who want to know more, here and here. I did write also on that but my blog is now too big for my search engine to find the post....


-The end-

Lapi, Chavez and private health care

In this glorious ever so more bolibanana revolution all things seem inextricably linked. The reason is that Chavez cannot tolerate that the spotlight is taken away from him and when that happens he always burps something out that is sure to send the country into a newer chaotic spasm since Chavez underlings are unable to discern what is a mere dissimulated form of swearing and what might be actually a state policy. Not wanting to take any chances, any uttering of Chavez is thus taken as a state policy announcement.

The escape of ex governor Lapi (we think, we hope, it is an escape as the guy has not shown sign of been alive since he supposedly escaped jail) has sent the press into a holiday week feeding frenzy since they could not have hoped for a better bonus to sell newspaper at a time when Venezuelans tend to be away of it all. An irritable Chavez has been silent about all the security and jail and justice implications that are behind that jail break (for these implications you can read any of the preceding 5 posts...). So what did Chavez announce yesterday? That he would nationalize private health care. That is, no more private medicine in Venezuela. Of course he gets two bonuses out of it, he gets back into the news from which he had been semi erased for the past two days and he also tries to soften the blow of the announcement by semi hiding it in a holy week holiday distraction and the Lapi escape.

But first let's us deal with the policy implied behind Chavez words. The Barrio Adentro mision is widely reported floundering, even with the help of Cubans who are rumored to be defecting in larger numbers. And Venezuelan state hospitals who showed some improvement last year courtesy of the electoral campaign are again showing signs of near collapse. Since this Chavez administration is unable to run a partially efficient health system it is starting to look at the second best: take away private clinics and give them to the people. That way we will all end up with bad medical care whereas the regime dignitaries will save a clinic for their own usage just as Castro does in Cuba. An amusing detail about these revolutionaries of the people is that you never see them seeking medical treatment in a Barrio Adentro facility, however you hear all the time reports of private clinic rooms or even aisles, barred form general public access by a few body guards while their boss or a boss relatives undergo some treatment.

Of course this will fail. Venezuelans practitioners in private care have usually specializations at overseas hospitals and clinics and most simply will leave the country if the state takes over private medicine. This state will eventually find itself in a few years with an assorted set of run down hospitals and clinics, ill staffed, ill provided, just as in Cuba where barely primary care medicine is worth mentioning these days, excepting the show clinics such as the ones for mision milagro (have you ever observed that the only mision for a particular health condition is mision milagro, for its publicity value in restoring eye sight to people with cataracts, just as in old times the king was supposed to cure you from the croup by just touching you?)

But I digress, let's go back to Chavez announcement. His justification is that private clinics keep increasing their prices whereas the inflation of March was a negative 0.7%. A negative 0.7% ONLY? Let's start by that, after reducing sales taxes by 3% last month the government gets only a 0.7% deflation? Does that mean that the real inflation was in fact 2.3% and we will start feeling it in the next months?

But the implications of this announcement must be looked further back. Chavez is aware that his folks are using private medicine. Chavez is aware that the costs increase in clinics are also due to his erratic polices, in particular the ones due to currency control exchange which has created a big mess in medication and medical equipment provision while medics must fight the inflation that affect their pocket and their staff pockets. So what does Chavez do? He calls for a ceremony to highlight the 0.7% deflation (the nerve!) and he kills one of the messengers of his erratic policies: private health care. But the chutzpah of Chavez goes beyond what he has already got us used to:

Private clinic that does not follow the regulation that we will do, if we need to regulate, we will have to nationalize it, because we are obliged to protect all the people, including the middle class and also the rich.

Chavez protecting the rich now! I have seen it all! Or have I? Whose rich are we talking about here? The ones from the government who use their body guards to shield them when they are in private clinics and who think that they are paying too much? I would not be surprised! These people are so ill educated, and so arrogant that maybe they complained to Chavez about the high prices of private clinics. Meanwhile as an admission of the failure of Barrio Adentro II and more to attract the middle class, Chavez could not have done better! Here, an idea for you Hugo: get Barrio Adentro to work for real and see how the middle class will flock there. Did that truly revolutionary idea occurred to you and the jerks that surround you?

But for Chavez there is a real problem still going on. His -07% fake deflation is not going to have the psychological impact he hoped for. After all other news keep coming up such as the unwillingness of people to obey the booze restrictions of this holiday week, and the Lapi case. Right now we are at 59 arrests and more than 30 searches, something never heard of, in particular during the numerous kidnapping cases in Yaracuy that "lalo" gimenez cannot be bothered with. But Lapi is of course another matter.......... Who cares that civilians are held in ransom when Lapi cannot be held in jail? Maybe gimenez should hear form Chavez that he also must defend "the middle class and also the rich". Maybe some of those 2000 cops searching for Lapi could be used, after he is captured back, to decrease the crime rate of Yaracuy where this blogger has been a repeat victim?

And so the show continues with now talk of political exile for Lapi (who has the credentials to get one even from the useless OAS) or from the increasing count of people who are escaping jail in Venezuela where corruption and incredible conditions make one wonder how come more people are not running away....

Stay tuned, it is going to get even better, if possible!

-The end-

PS1: pic from yesterday's Tal Cual

PS2: The brother of Lapi tells us that he has not heard from his brother since this one went on missing. He also states that he is sure that his brother would surrender again if he were guaranteed his safety.

Meanwhile in an ironic turn of events, Giovanni Vasquez, the star witness of the Anderson case has been arrested with a fake Security Police ID and weapons. For memory: that Giovanni Vasquez is the now utterly discredited character upon which all the fake investigations and indictment on the Anderson case rest. We did not know where that paid for witness was hanging around since he disappeared from public scrutiny but now we know. Meanwhile some of the people that were incriminated upon his false testimony have still not been freed of their fake charges (such as Patricia Poleo still in exile). And then they want Lapi to surrender? So they can produce a sequel to Giovanni Vasquez against him? So that the new witness discredit will not result anyway in liberation of Lapi?

Meanwhile the attorney general Rodriguez has still not resigned for unbelievable incompetency and outmost lies and the Anderson case is still without solution in spite of repeated announcement to this respect. Truly, an astounding spectacle!

Gimme a break!!!!!

PS 3: Feathers made an interesting connection between health care and slaughterhouse, here.